As with any government scheme the annoucement is always about 6 months ahead of the actual 'roll out' date. So I doubt you will be able to apply for a replacement until the Summer at the earliest. And the scrappage only applies to those people that have boilers with the lowest energy rating. No doubt there will be a lot of other conditions and will this be available through your small independent boiler installer.

Huckster

Felicity King-Evans:"Hang fire for Felicity!" Once day, when I have my C4 personal finance TV show, I'll be sure to run it past the producers.

And I'll be sure to print off this page to use in my claim for royalties...

Felicity King-Evans:

There is no set date for the boiler scheme, government needs to discuss it with industry and stakeholders. They believe it should become available 'early 2010', but that is as specific as they would be.

God forbid they might have actually thought these things through before announcing them to the world.

Felicity King-Evans:

Whether your boiler will qualify, I don't know. So far, all the small print states it has to be a "working boiler" - which it sounds like yours is not.

All depends on the definition of 'working'. It tends to work when I hit it. ;-)

Ah well, I guess it is a good job we went all frugal. All that money we saved is now going on a new boiler!

Many thanks for getting this info, it is appreciated.

mooreaz:

Thanks for the help, I'll tell the plumber to hang fire for Felicity. I am sure he will understand!

*grins* it sounds a bit like a slogan: "Hang fire for Felicity!" Once day, when I have my C4 personal finance TV show, I'll be sure to run it past the producers.

Anyway, the Treasury just got back to me. There is no set date for the boiler scheme, government needs to discuss it with industry and stakeholders. They believe it should become available 'early 2010', but that is as specific as they would be.

I also asked how they'll be allocating the subsidies. It's for just 125,000 homes, so what if there are more applicants? The Treasury said it will be a case of "first come, first served", so once it is announced, hopefuls will need to move fast.

Whether your boiler will qualify, I don't know. So far, all the small print states it has to be a "working boiler" - which it sounds like yours is not.

Sorry not to have any better news!

Felicity

Surely the only way to incentivise people to take lower paid jobs is to make it worthwhile taxwise......give everyone a £12000 tax free allowance and a flat rate of tax at 20% thereafter. Benefits are that lower paid jobs actually pay £12000 rather that present tax free allowance of £6000 (odd) and then try and claim tax credits/benfits etc to try and get some of your earnings returned (less admin charges by the various Government agencies it would pass through) It would also cut out a lot of fraudulent benefit claims. This would also eliminate the so called benefit trap...it is ridiculous to remove benefits at such a rate and then to charge income tax at base rate on negligible earnings above £6000....

Incidentally....a futher increase in NI contributions of 0.5% (to make a total of 1% increase overall) makes a total of 12%of income. People seem unable to recognise that is is an 8.5% rise ......not 1%!!

Windsong

mooreaz - I think if i were you i'd just get a new boiler. The fact that you have an office to go to suggests you have a job, which in turn suggests that you probably wont qualify. But look on the bright side (if today's reports are anything to go by) at least you wont have it taken off you after the election!

Cynical, i know, but you can only call the dog over, and then slap him so many times before he stops coming!

Darren

I'm sure he will! Tell the plumber you've put a small tax on tea and coffee and then see what he says...

Hope you get better soon. I'm sure the office does, too!

Graeme Delap:

How is the office coping? (!)

Badly! I am ill and therefore more grumpy and snappy than normal.

Thanks for the help, I'll tell the plumber to hang fire for Felicity. I am sure he will understand!

Hi mooreaz,

Humph - No, we've been looking at it too and we can't find anything definitive at the moment, unfortunately. However, Felicity is phoning the Treasury later today to clarify some details of the changes - she's promised to let you know as soon as she has an answer.

The £200m is certanly a separate measure - and there doesn't seem much point in waiting until the weather improves to before people can replace those inefficient boilers. How is the office coping? (!)

Morning Graeme,

I have hunted around and not found anything definitive so was hoping you could fare better...

Is there any indication of when this scrappage scheme is to nbe implemented? I saw that the additional £200m was from next April, but this sounded like it would be separate.

Don't want to sound desperate, but I even came into the office today to stay out of my cold house!

A.

Being a simpleton in matters financial ( at least HIGH finance) my view is that he is doing a NERO. Je has not addressed the deficit directly. I am no Labour supporter nor indeed a Cameron one either, however I blieve that people know who is going to have toppay the bills in the end so don't lie tell us what needs to be done and then DO IT! We cannot avoid dishing out the money . at least the hoi-polloy cannot, but al lesat we will see the ttrian is coming down the tracks and brace ourselves for the shock!

mooreaz - put the fire on and warm yersel' up! Give a little cheer - a new boiler is on its way... :)

So what did you make of that? The Chancellor's primary task was to "ensure recovery and secure growth". Inflation is expected to reach 3% in 2010 before falling back after that. What do you think?

In summary, I took the key points as:

VAT: To revert back to 17.5% from 1 January 2010. Look out in the January sales!

Banking: No windfall tax, but one off, 50% tax on individual discretionary bonuses over £25k - payable by bank and which should raise £500m.

Tax: No change to personal allowances or individual inheritance tax at £325,000. Tax avoidance and evasion measures to be increased - 100k offshore accounts to be investigated by HMRC.

National Insurance Contributions: a bit of confusion here which I'll clarify as soon as I find out. Was it another 0.5% from April 2011 - but only for those earning over £20k? As far as I can see, this is in addition to the 0.5% announced in the PBR 2008 - so a total of 1% on NICs from April 2011, unless you earn under £20k.

Business: The planned small companies’ rate increase to 22% has been deferred until 2011-12.

Energy: £200m to help with energy efficiency projects. 125k homes to be helped to replace inefficient boilers - 'a boiler scrappage scheme'.

Lending: Plans for £500bn in new loans to small businesses to be announced

Mortgages/Housing: Stamp duty holiday to end as planned on 31 Dec. Mortgage interest cover programme extended for a further 6 months.

Employment: Measures to tackle youth unemployment - All under 24 year olds out of work for more than 6 months to be guaranteed work.

Pensions: Basic state pension will rise by 2.5% in April 2010

Child benefit: Child benefit to rise from April 2010

Pay: Public sector pay settlements be capped at 1% for 2 years from 2011

Broadband: 50p broadband tax for digital infrastructure mentioned - but this has already been announced

I hope so, I am sat at home in my thermals...

mooreaz:

Ok, let me start with this one....

Boiler Scrappage Scheme - I am overjoyed and more than a little miffed. My boiler is broken. I am poised to order a new one and have my plumber on standby to fit it next Wednesday.

So, question is, how long will it take to fully define and introduce this measure????

They did it pretty quick with the car scrappage scheme.

Ok, let me start with this one....

Boiler Scrappage Scheme - I am overjoyed and more than a little miffed. My boiler is broken. I am poised to order a new one and have my plumber on standby to fit it next Wednesday.

So, question is, how long will it take to fully define and introduce this measure????

Good points, pford75. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Well, it's about to start. I'll try and summarise the key points...